Spring
by Stratocruiser
Summary: Hawkeye and Margaret visit their daughter, who's married to Charles Winchester's son. They're both trying to make a living in a desolate part of Oklahoma.
1. Chapter 1

**Spring**

There'd been very little rain that year, and by April the Oklahoma panhandle was swirling with dust storms. Cows died and spring crops choked in the hazy sunshine. Everyone and everything was covered with a fine layer of dust.

One day the sky began to turn a bruised purple and Tex Winchester switched on the radio. There was always a threat of tornadoes in this flat land. Outside, Ellie was working double time to haul the wash off the clothesline before the storm hit. The weathervane creaked on the roof of their barn. Dust devils sprung up in the nearby fields.

Right as the first drops began to hit, Ellie hit the porch steps running and Tex flung the door open. The laundry, the clothespins and Ellie slid in, all in that order. They were both prepared to run for the storm shelter, just off the back porch.

"I think this may be just a thunderstorm," Tex said, running a hand through his too-long dirty blonde hair. Ellie folded her arms and watched the sky darken. Lightning licked out of a cloud in the distance.

"Well," she said, still frowning out at the weather.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Your mom called today," Tex said, stepping away from the window.

"What did she want? They're still coming tomorrow, right?"

Tex sighed. He was fine with seeing Hawkeye and Margaret, but he'd had a little falling-out with his father, who had insisted on coming to Oklahoma with the Pierces.

"Yeah, they'll be here."

Ellie sat down at the kitchen table and started to fold the clothing. "So, what did Mom want?"

"Nothing. She just misses you and wanted to talk."

Ellie felt tears coming to her eyes. For one of the first times in her life, she missed her parents. Tex noticed her shining eyes and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Honey, it's okay. You'll see them. We'll see so much of our parents we'll get sick of them. Besides, the house is clean and there's plenty of food. I brought home two more pies today from Mrs. Redmond."

"Oh," Ellie said, in a small voice. She leaned against her husband's arm.

Five months had passed since they'd been married. There was no honeymoon. Tex had to be in Wheeless the next week to start his work. The town doctor had died and the closest hospital was forty miles away in Boise City. Even though Tex had grown up in Texas, nothing prepared him for the flatness and desolation of the panhandle. Ellie was constantly amazed by the place and how much work Tex had to do to keep the scattered populatin healthy. The state paid most of his salary because many of the patients couldn't afford to pay anything. Most had no insurance. His clinic doubled as an emergency room and free clinic for them.

He worked to the point of exhaustion. His patients paid him in pies and fried chicken. Ellie was doing some teaching at Oklahoma Panhandle State and trying to write a book. She was also two months pregnant.

"Are you hungry? Let's try one of those pies," Ellie said, breaking Tex's train of thought.

"She said one was peach and one was pieplant, whatever that is."

Ellie pulled one out of the refrigerator and set it down. She started at it for a long time before hacking into it with a butcher knife.

"This must be the pieplant. It's really strange," she said, performing a pie autopsy. She snatched a little piece and took a bite, looking thoughtful as she chewed.

"What does it taste like?" Tex asked, curious.

"Shoney's strawberry pie filling...and sour celery."

He watched her swallow, frowning. He stuck a finger in pie and scooped out a mouthful. Ellie went to get a glass of water, to try to wash the taste out of her mouth.

"It's some kind of rhubarb. But it's awful," Tex said through the mouthful.

"Drought rhubarb," Ellie said, shaking her head. "I know! Let's see if our parents will eat it."

They re-arranged the pie to look like it wasn't mutilated. The peach pie looked better, but neither could get the lingering sour taste out of their mouths. Tex, who was looking gaunt and pale anyways, sat heavily at the table and buried his face in his hands.

"Let's just make some popcorn and go to bed. Why don't you go up and take a shower, I'll make the popcorn, and then we'll watch 'Sixty Minutes'," Ellie said, trying to be cheerful.

"Come here," he said, pulling her down into his lap. Tex kissed Ellie, who put a hand on his cheek.

"El, you take good care of me. One day when I'm not so tired, I'll take care of you all day."

"Okay," she said, kissing him back. Ellie slid off his lap and turned the burner on. The storm was shaking and rocking the old house.

Ellie wasn't afraid of these storms, just fascinated in a wild, curious way. Tex went upstairs and turned on the air conditioner in the bedroom, then went to the shower. The water soothed his tired muscles and stung his sunburnt shoulders.

He'd been up since three a.m. tending to an old man who insisted on dying at home. The family became sure the end was near, but the old codger hung on for six hours, cussing and fighting Tex off the whole time. Then a farmhand got kicked in the groin by a horse and needed attention. The guy's balls were the size of cantaloupes before the swelling subsided. On top of all this, a stready stream of patients came in with anything from ingrown toenails to violent hangovers. The clinic nurse, an older woman who grew up in a nearby town, just shook her head. "Must be a full moon tonight," was all Barbara Sills could say.

Barbara reminded him of Ellie's mother. A tough old bird, but very pretty. A large part of their weekend had also been devoted to making the spare farmhouse functional for their guests. The basement had a finished office, so they'd painted the whole thing and decorated with whatever Wheeless had to offer, which wasn't very much. Ellie had the presence of mind to stuff a record player in the cramped room with the single bed. This would be Charles Winchester's little home away from home. They would have put the Pierces down there but neither felt like moving the large bed from the downstairs bedroom to the basement. So, Ellie put her parents on the main floor and hoped everyone would stay out of each other's way. The home had two bathrooms, and for that they'd all be thankful.

The house came with the job. They were given the deed the first day they came to town. The floors were unsanded in some spots and the kitchen was terribly outdated. The pipes moaned, the doors squealed, the roof leaked and Ellie was suspicious of the old knob and tube wiring that sometimes hissed and popped when you'd plug in anything more complicated than a toaster. But it was a big, sturdy old structure and it was paid for. Charles Winchester could find every little flaw the house had and carry on, but even he had never been given a free house.

Ellie was already in bed when Tex came in from the shower. She was in pajamas, just lying on the covers eating popcorn. Tex put on a pair of boxers and jumped in beside her. His body, which had always been muscular, was getting a little gaunt. He worried about everything...the baby, his practice and most of all, Ellie. She wasn't sleeping much and seemed distracted sometimes. Hawkeye had told him a big secret the night before the wedding.

_"You're going to have to keep an eye on her. I don't know if you've noticed, but she can get a little down on herself sometimes. When she was sixteen, I found her in the upstairs hallway drowning in the contents of her stomach. If I hadn't been at home, she wouldn't have made it," Hawkeye said, crying. " I had to pump her stomach over the bathtub. Fifty semi-dissolved Valiums came out. God knows, Margaret and I tried to make her happy. I had always hoped she wouldn't have to deal with the emotional problems the Pierce family has, but it just wasn't in the cards. Promise me you'll take care of her. I can't let you marry her any other way."_

He promised.

They sat silently through "Sixty Minutes". When the show was over and the popcorn was down to the old maids, Tex put the bowl on the floor and wrapped his arms around Ellie, who was finally sleeping. His hands traced around her long-ago accident scars and he fell asleep, dreading the next day.

XXXX

_**Standard Disclaimer Applies.**_


	2. Chapter 2

They thumped down the dusty road, Gladys Knight's "Use My Imagination" blaring out of the Chevette's tinny radio. Margaret sang along, keeping in almost perfect tune with the song as the radio's signal came and went. Hawkeye, who'd walk a mile just to hear her voice, tapped along on the steering wheel.

In the back seat, Charles Winchester winced. To him it was like being trapped in a car with two excited chimpanzees. The flights were long and the two stopovers were in the outer reaches of civilization...Houston and Saint Louis.

"Honey, let me know when we get to Wheeless. Tex gave me directions from there but he says there aren't many road signs," Hawkeye said, squeezing his wife's hand. He was excited about seeing Ellie and even more excited about becoming a grandfather.

"Uh huh," she said, studying the map, her brow furrowed.

"Why did we have to get an economy car? I would have gladly paid for the Oldsmobile. _Gladly_," grouched Charles, trying to roll his window down.

Margaret ignored their cranky passenger and stared out at the flat land. She'd read about this part of the country but couldn't believe how desolate and unforgiving the land looked. They rolled past a shack surrounded by scraggly cottonwood trees.

"Rattlesnakes, tornadoes, dust storms, blizzards...I don't know why..." Charles droned on.

"What's that?"

Hawkeye through the windshield at a gigantic rolling shape that came to a stop in the middle of the road about thirty yards in front of them. Charles mercifully shut up and stuck his head out the window. Margaret still studied the map. Hawkeye rolled up slowly and let the bumper nudge the tumbleweed.

"It's the size of a dishwasher," Margaret marveled.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Dorothy," said Hawkeye, guiding the small car around the big ball of weeds. "Charles, what do you think?"

"I think it's all a bloody mistake."

Hawkeye looked at Margaret and rolled his eyes. Minutes later, they rolled into the small town of Wheeless. It consisted of a flagpole, a small dry goods store, a bar and what was later identified as the medical clinic. To the untrained eye, it resembled just another prairie shack.

"I don't see any signs for Route 4," Margaret frowned, shading her eyes from the red glow of the sun.

Although there wasn't a soul on the street, they'd have to ask for directions. The dry goods store, with it's sign sagging over the sidewalk, seemed open.

"Charles, can I get you anything? I've got to ask directions," Hawkeye said over his shoulder.

"Yes, you can get me back to Boston and..."

Hawkeye was already out of the car before Charles could finish. Margaret followed him into the store. The abrupt change of light made her stumble into Hawkeye's back as their eyes adjusted to the murky darkness.

"Watch it. If you'd been in front of me we'd be committing an act of public lewdness," Hawkeye smiled. Margaret swatted at his chest and pushed her way in front of him. The store appeared empty.

"Hello? Anyone?"

"Maybe they've been abducted by aliens," Margaret offered.

"Maybe we could send Charles with them."

Something fell with a clatter in the back of the store and an old woman came out of the gloom, her hands covered in flour.

"Help you?" she asked, eyeing the strangers suspiciously.

"Yeah, we're here to see our daughter and we can't figure out how to get to Route 4," Hawkeye smiled. He could be quite a charmer, and was still very handsome.

"Who's your daughter?"

Margaret stepped closer to the old woman. Just as she was about to spill the beans, the woman smiled.

"Your Ellie Winchester's parents, aren't you? She was in here earlier today. Oh, we're happy to have Doctor Winchester and Ellie around here. He sat with my uncle the other night for hours as the guy died. My name's Orrie Andrews. I've lived here my whole life."

Hawkeye and Margaret breathed a sigh of relief. The locals were friendly. Tex had given them a warning to the contrary.

"Front Street turns into Route 4. Ellie and Doc live about seven miles down. Oh...and hang on...," said Orrie, turning and walking away quickly.

Margaret kissed Hawkeye's arm and he wrapped it around her shoulders. They stayed like that until Orrie re-emerged with a lumpy wad of Reynolds Wrap.

"Here's some fried chicken. Ellie likes it so much. It's the least I can do after all they've done for us around here. There's also some peach turnovers in there," she said, handing the bundle to Hawkeye.

"It smells great. They'll be glad to get this," Margaret smiled. Hawkeye nodded in agreement. They turned to leave.

"Y'all stop back by tomorrow and I'll give you the grand tour," Orrie cackled. She went back behind the counter and disappeared into the cool recesses of the store.

At the car, Hawkeye gave Charles the package. He was immediately aware there was a lot of dust flying around. Margaret flipped on the car's air conditioning and they all rolled up the windows as they headed toward Front Street.

"Close the windows! Dust storm!"

Ellie and Tex ran around their house slamming windows shut as the flying dust began to blot out the sun. A kitten had shown up that morning, and it tottered behind Tex as he frantically swept the dust out of the once-clean house. He almost swept up the little orange and white kitten in his haste.

"I hope they're okay. I hate to think of them driving in this crap," Ellie said, peering out the windows. "Just in case, let's wet some towels so we can run out and grab them."

"My God, this is unbearable," Margaret moaned as they inched down the dirt road. Hawkeye's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Charles Winchester was asleep and snoring through his first dust storm.

"A white house, right? After a curve...there's the curve," Hawkeye said, concentrating on the road.

"There's the white house!" Margaret said, her excitement mounting. A huge blast of wind shook the little car as they came to a stop behind Ellie's familiar purple Jeep.

Charles woke up and quietly stared out the window. You could barely see a foot in front of you. No one could make out what the house looked like.

Two faces peered in the Chevette's windows and the doors were yanked open. Hawkeye felt himself being yanked out and a wet towel was thrown over his face. Margaret felt two powerful arms guiding her through the storm, and moments later, Charles was retrieved in the same manner.

They all stood in the front hallway of what Hawkeye immediately recognized as a very old house. His eyes were full of dust, but a steady hand grabbed him under the chin.

"Hold still, Dad," Ellie said, putting a few drops of Visine in each of his eyes. Tex helped Margaret and Ellie turned her attention to Charles. After they all wiped their eyes, they stood to face each other, not saying anything.

Margaret was relieved to see that Ellie had gained some weight. She looked better than she had in a long time. Tex, on the other hand, was pale and looking stressed.

Ellie broke the silence by practically jumping into her parent's arms. While Hawkeye and Margaret hugged and kissed her, Charles stared his son down in that narrow hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

Margaret saw Tex uneasily staring at Charles. She rushed forward and grabbed her son-in-law, planting a big kiss on his lips. Tex was momentarily stunned but managed a big smile. Hawkeye hugged him, too and Ellie went right up to Charles and held her arms out.

"Young lady, is see Oklahoma's agreeing with you," he said before accepting the hug. There were two women that could wrap Charles around their little fingers. One was Margaret Pierce, whom he'd had a crush on since his first day at the 4077th. The other was Ellie Pierce. While she didn't have her mother's blonde hair or green eyes, there was just something about her that Charles found attractive. Besides, he's always been an Agent 99 fan...and Ellie was a dead ringer for the actress who portrayed her.

"Orrie down at the store gave us this fried chicken and some turnovers. I'm starved," Hawkeye said, pulling Margaret close. Charles relaxed his grip on Ellie and looked around a little more.

"Tell you what," Tex said. "Why don't you show them the house, baby, and I'll fix up some plates." He kissed Ellie and carried the lumpy package into the kitchen.

"Well, not much to show. Keep in mind we're kind of fixing things up as we go along," Ellie said, shooing the trio forward.

"Mom and Dad, you're on this floor in the room off the porch. Charles, we fixed up the basement room for you with a record player. There's a bathroom on this floor with a shower and there's a full one upstairs. And some of the floors aren't sanded so you might want to keep your shoes on."

Hawkeye paid little attention to the attributes of the decrepit structure. He grabbed Ellie again, hugging her and kissing her forehead. "I've missed you so much, kid," Hawkeye smiled..

Charles rolled his eyes and winced at the lumpy floors and the unpainted plaster.

"The house is a peach. I wouldn't mind skipping lunch for a little nap, though," Charles said. Ellie directed him down a narrow staircase.

Charles found the little room, which was adorned with a light, a stack of books and an old Sears record player. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, battling the headache that had formed when the plane touched down. At least the bed was comfortable, Charles thought before he drifted off.

The rest of the family dove into the chicken. The kitchen was small and cramped with all four of them crowded around the table. Ellie noticed Margaret eating off Hawkeye's plate, a habit she'd loathed as a child. It seemed cute now.

Tex didn't mention his father's absence. Instead, he watched Margaret and Hawkeye go back and forth. Ellie was quiet and thoughtful.

"You'll never make money as a country doctor. But you'll have plenty to eat," Hawkeye said, helping himself to another piece of chicken. Margaret laid a hand on Ellie's stomach.

"Before you say anything, Ma, I'm sleeping okay, the morning sickness is almost over, I'm taking my vitamins, getting exercise and trying not to eat much of this greasy stuff," Ellie said. Margaret smiled, her eyes slightly teary.

"Oh Lord, here she goes," Hawkeye said. Tears rolled down Margaret's cheeks.

"I can't believe my baby's having a baby. Hawkeye, you were crying the other night, so can it," she said unevenly.

Tex put an arm on Margaret's shoulder. Hawkeye squeezed her hand. Ellie kept eating. She was used to her mother's mix of emotions. It did jar her, though, how old her parents looked. Her father's hair was almost completely gray. He walked with more of a pronounced limp now and was rubbing his lower lip more and more, a nervous habit. Margaret was looking as uaual in the face, but her hands were covered with wrinkles and liver spots. She was also dying her hair a lighter, almost platinum color. It scared Ellie a little bit to see them, because she could never imagine them as actually being elderly. Time was passing so quickly.

It really did seem like only yesterday Hawkeye was teaching her how to ride a bicycle. Then he was teaching her how to drive. Then he was giving her away at the altar. She loved Tex, but it was her father that came first in line.

Tex had been horrified to hear what had transpired years ago between Ellie and Margaret. He knew their relationship was shaky. Tex never knew the root of the problem, one that centered around Margaret's alcohol problem and a violent act in the Pierce's dining room.

"_I don't think she meant to push me so hard. Mom just lost her temper."_

It was something Ellie examined in depth on some sleepless nights. Her father's book had spilled the beans on Margaret's past, something that helped Ellie understand some of the anger her mother had worked for years to contain. Ellie wasn't afraid of Margaret any more. She felt sorry for this platinum blonde, born too early to enjoy the kind of life she was meant to have. Granted, if that had happened, Ellie and her brother Ben wouldn't exist. Sure, her parents loved each other, but what if...just what if...

The afternoon passed without an appearance from Charles. Ellie was looking all over the house for her new kitten but instead found her father asleep in the living room and Tex reading a Time magazine. Margaret was on her hands and knees scrubbing out the bathtub.

"Mom, it was clean," Ellie said, sitting on the side of the tub.

"But look at it sparkle now! Soon you won't be able to lean over and get the tough spots."

"You're on vacation. Don't worry about bathtubs. Dad's asleep downstairs. You should go see if he wants to take a walk."

Margaret kept scrubbing. Ellie shrugged and walked out.

She was just about to make another sweep of the house when the basement door swung open. Charles appeared, looking disheveled and holding the kitten.

"Is this little creature yours? It crawled up my pant leg and woke me out of a sound sleep."

"That's Tubby," Ellie said, smiling. "I know you missed lunch, so I saved you some chicken and pie."

Charles let the kitten down. Tubby scampered into the living room and launched himself up Hawkeye's leg.

"Oh my God, what the hell's going on?" Hawkeye limped in, carrying the kitten.

"I see you've decided to join us, Charles," he said, frowning.

"Yes, well, this pie is fantastic. What did you say it was?" asked Charles. It was the foul-tasting rhubarb mess Ellie and Tex had sampled the day before. She was about to laugh when the phone rang. Tex reached it first.

"Uh-huh...yeah, well, keep her feet elevated. I'll be right there. Go on and call for the ambulance for Boise City," he said, nodding and writing scribbled symptoms down on an old grocery list. Tex turned to face his family.

"That was Mr. Wright. His wife's having a heart attack. I've gotta go," he said, running to the dryer and pulling out his scrubs. Ellie helped him dress and watched as her charged out the door through the dust. In a minute, all they could see were his headlights disappearing down the road.

"What was that?" Margaret joined them, her hands pruned by the cleanser and water.

"Heart attack in town," Hawkeye said, helping Charles eat the pie.

Ellie watched them all eat. She thought of how her father made these similar house calls, even now. Charles, excepting the stint in Korea, had been in an ivory tower for his entire medical career. He couldn't understand why his son had turned down a cushy surgical job in Boston for this. But Charles was enjoying the pie, made by someone who owed their life to Tex Winchester, not his father.


	4. Chapter 4

Night fell and the wind died down in the little corner of Oklahoma. Tex had been gone for hours and Ellie assumed he'd followed the ambulance to the hospital. She tried to wait up for him but usually ended up dozing on the couch. Tonight was no exception. The arrival of her parents tired her out.

Charles wandered upstairs for some water at about ten and noticed the blanket had fallen off his daughter-in-law. She had the same sleep habits he'd endured in the Swamp as Hawkeye slumbered, snoring and kicking away the covers every night. Charles tucked the blanket around Ellie and lifted her hand to his lips.

"Sweet dreams, young lady."

He watched her for awhile. When he was in his what-if mode, Charles had always wished for a daughter. Fathers and sons carry animosities over who's the bigger man, who accomplishes the most. Fathers and daughters watch out for one another. Hawkeye would literally kill for Ellie, Charles thought. Hawkeye had plenty of opportunity in Korea to kill the enemy, but he chose not to. But if something threatened his own daughter, he responded like a rabid dog. Even Margaret didn't have his allegiance like that. Charles hoped Tex knew this too.

When the kitten came ambling in, he moved quickly downstairs, fearing another sneak attack on the bare skin of his legs.

When Tex finally got in at about midnight, the house was very quiet. His scrubs were bloody and dusty, so he shed them by the washing machine and just threw on an old pair of jeans from the basket. Tex walked barefoot into the kitchen and poured a glass of orange juice and opened a container of vanilla ice cream. He was sitting there eating it in the dark when Margaret shuffled in and began opening cupboards.

"If you're looking for a glass it's the third one on your left."

Margaret jumped and put a hand on her chest. "God Tex, you gave me a scare."

"Sorry."

He noticed Margaret was wearing glasses. This was something new. Bifocals. Her nightgown was a little revealing, but she probably hadn't bargained on encountering anyone on her errand.

"Did your patient pull through?"

Tex smiled. "Yes, just by the skin of her teeth. I hope I didn't wake anyone but she wanted me down at the hospital with her. They did a bypass and I stayed there the whole time."

Margaret smiled at him and it was like the sun coming up.

"You're a good doctor," she said. "They're lucky to have you around here."

Tex turned bright red, feeling the heat creep into his cheeks. It was having Einstein praise you as a scientist. She patted his shoulder and went back to rummaging in the cabinets. She was not like Ellie at all, yet she was. It was that smile and all the kilowatts behind it.

A cool wind blew through the open windows and fluttered the curtains. Tex felt the gooseflesh began to rise. He'd forgotten he was shirtless. He felt scrawny these days and was embarassed to be barechested in front of his mother-in-law.

"Well, I guess it's off to bed, then. Where's your wife, young man?"

He startled at Margaret's voice and stood up quickly. "Probably asleep in the other room with the heating pad on her hand. I usually have to drag her upstairs this time of night."

"Is her hand okay?"

Tex grimaced. He knew Ellie's hand could be painful. One night he rolled over on top of it by accidnet and she yelped so loud she scared herself. "Oh, it comes and goes. The moist heat seems to do the trick. And I learned about some physical therapy exercises that seem to keep the joints a little looser. The ibuprofen helps, I know," he said, looking at his own hands.

Margaret hugged him, causing gooseflesh to rise on his skin again. She kissed his cheek and smiled.

"Goodnight, Tex."

"Night, Mom."

Hawkeye was just dozing off when Margaret came back into their bedroom. She put the glass on the bedside table and snuggled next to him.

"Who were you talking to out there?" Hawkeye asked in a sleepy voice.

"Just Tex. He's home."

Hawkeye turned over and kissed her twice. They were too tired for any heavy physical activity. She suddenly became aware Tex probably got an eyeful when she walked in.

"I like this nightgown," Hawkeye said, nestling his head on her chest. The gown was cut low, really too low for someone creeping up on sixty.

"I'll bet you do." She still didn't like to walk around exposing herself, but Hawkeye was perfectly fine wandering around and even sometimes answering the door clad in boxers and a robe.

"You know who else would like it? Charles!"

She reached over and pinched the skin on his arm. He whacked her with a pillow. One of her breasts fell out of the top of the nightgown, and Hawkeye grabbed it. She yanked his boxer shorts down and grabbed him in turn.

"I'm really tired," he said.

"Me too," she agreed. "But, oh, what the hell."

Her grip tightened and he moaned. "Margaret, the kids...Charles..."

"Tex and Ellie aren't saints. She's pregnant, remember? And as for Charles..."

Margaret pulled the nightgown over her head.

"...he can just be jealous."

Hawkeye laughed as she winked and reached over to turn out the light.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tex found Ellie where he thought he would. She was on the couch, fully dressed, her hand wrapped in a heating pad. The kitten was idly chewing on the cord.

"You little bastard," Tex said, grabbing the ball of fur. He stuck Tubby on the wing chair and snapped the pad off.

"Who?"

Ellie stirred a bit, burrowing her face into the sofa. Tex crouched on the floor next to her.

"Baby, it's me. Do you want to go upstairs?"

She barely nodded, so he scooped her up and hauled her up the staircase. He laid her down in the darkened, cool bedroom. She reached up for him, pulling him down with her.

"Don't you want to put on some pajamas or something? I do," he said, trying to struggle out of her grip. She let him go, and Tex found her nightgown under a pile of clothes in the closet. Ellie opened her eyes to change and to watch him slip out of his jeans. He was muscular and bowlegged, just like any good cowboy. She thought he looked great in jeans and cowboy boots.

"God, I'm whupped," he said, sliding under the covers. He was asleep almost instantly. Ellie put a hand on his chest and fell into a deep sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The phone rang at six a.m. sharp. Everyone in the house was jolted awake. Hawkeye sprung up out of bed, forgetting he was away from home. The kitten, sleeping on the pillow above Margaret's head, dug his little needle claws into her scalp and sent her flying. Charles almost fell out of his narrow bed, and did manage to upset a stack of books he'd thumbed through the night before. Tex and Ellie had mysteriously switched sides in the night, so when he reached over to answer the phone he poked Ellie in the eye. In pain, she grabbed the phone and dropped the reciever on his head.

"Owww! This is Dr. Winchester," he said, trying to regain his composure.

Ellie could hear the ruckus downstairs, so she went about trying to find a robe. It wasn't easy with a hand over one eye. She made it to the bathroom and ran cool water on a washcloth, hoping that would stop the sharp ache. Tex was off the phone and rubbing his head when she came back in.

"You poked me!"

"And now look, you're pregnant. What's the big idea of dropping the receiver on my head, though? That thing weighs a ton," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "What was the call about?"

"Nothing. I'll go to town to check on Mr. Billingsley later. He was up all night with a mosquito bite," Tex said, still frowning.

"Jeez."

Tex pulled Ellie's hand and the washcloth away from her face. "Let me see your eye. Okay...just keep the washcloth on it for a while and it'll be okay. Sorry."

"Apology accepted," Ellie said, kissing him. "Let's take a shower."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall. Their laughter could be heard throughout the house, all the way down to the basement where Charles was trying to stack his books together again.

XXXXXXX

'So Tex, what would happen if there was a major emergency here, something with multiple injuries, like a bus accident?"

Tex was thoughtful for a moment, pondering Hawkeye's question over Margaret's pancakes.

"Well, I guess we'd get all the rescue squads here...like Ponca City and Smithton...then we have some people with medical knowledge, like Ellie...she'd be out there too. Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Albequerque all have MedStar choppers. We'd do the best we can with what we have. Like you and Dad, in Korea. Just do what you can," he said, hoping he'd never have to put the theory to the test.

Ellie was looking a little pale with morning sickness. Hawkeye talked her into eating a pancake, sans syrup. Charles was eating a stack of them and smiling.

"Margaret, your cookng is fabulous. I believe the last time we had breakfast together was in the mess tent, and those were made of some concrete mixture," Charles said before stuffing another forkful into his mouth.

"Ben always liked these," said Margaret, finally sitting down with her own pile.

"How's my little brother?" Ellie asked.

Margaret and Hawkeye looked at each other and shook their heads.

"He's dropped out of medical school," Margaret whispered.

Tex dropped his fork and Ellie pushed away from the table. Ben hadn't said anything to either of them last time he called. He'd had some romantic troubles that year and was struggling with his grades. UVA was a tough medical school but he'd promised to stick it out.

"My God, I didn't know that," Ellie said, sliding back up to the table.

"Neither did we until about three weeks ago. He's moved in with a local girl in Charlottesville and says he's going to try and find work as an EMT down there," Margaret said, her voice still low. Hawkeye was looking at his plate. His disappointment was palpable. Both of them had encouraged Ellie to pursue medicine at one point, but she wasn't interested at all. She thought now that was the first time she'd ever really let them down.

"I'm sorry about that. I wish he would have told us," said Tex, looking concerned. Ben was his best friend.

"I just can't get over these pancakes!" Charles said, garnering sour looks from the rest of the family.

Tex looked at his watch. "I've got to get going. Bye," he said, kissing Ellie and running towards the door. They heard his footsteps on the porch and he burst back in.

"Ellie! Get this snake off the porch!"

She grumbled and walked barefoot down the hall. Hawkeye, Charles and Margaret followed, but stopped on the safe side of the screen door. "For goodness sake, Tex, it's just an old blacksnake. He does more better than not," she said with a little exasperation edging into her voice.

The snake was about five feet long and it was coiled on the top step. Ellie walked right up to it and grabbed it expertly behind its head. With her other hand, she supported the rest of its body and walked to where the tall grass grew across the road.

"Bye, snake."

Her family had stepped on the porch and they were stunned at her nonchalance.She walked back towards them quickly, mindful of fire ants. "Snake's a snake. I studied marine biology, remember? There's worse things in this world," Ellie mumbled as she brushed past them. Tex shrugged and hopped in his beat-up Land Cruiser.

Two hours later, Hawkeye was trying to fix a squeaky step and Charles was back in the living room reading a Ray Bradbury book he found. Margaret and Ellie were going to town.

"This road is a mess. It used to be corderouy planks and sometimes they stick up," Ellie observed as the Jeep bounced over the terrain.

"Orrie at the store seemed nice," Margaret said, grabbing the dash handle as they hit a huge washout.

"They're okay. It took them awhile to warm up to us. Tex's nurse is nice too, Barbara Sills. We'll stop by and see them. I think she really wants to meet Charles, though. She complains there aren't enough men around here."

"She doesn't know what she'd be in for," Margaret said, and they both laughed.

The store seemed deserted again. Margaret didn't notice the day before just how bare the shelves were. Ellie didn't seem to mind and just went about picking her way through the limited selection.

"Hell-ooo," Orrie called, rushing out of the back, just as she had the day before. "Ellie! You brought your mom. That's so nice."

"Yes m'am. She made breakfast so I'm making dinner."

"Jude just brough in some fresh pork chops. We've got those right now, fifty cents a pound."

Ellie shrugged and smiled. "I'll need eight. And some bacon if you have any, too."

Orrie disappeared behind the meat counter. "We do. I have some green beans as well. They go good with bacon if you put a little in the pot while you boil them."

"Sounds good. Ma, that okay with you?"

Margaret's head popped up from over in the bread section. She walked over with a package of those brown and serve rolls.

"Let's get these too," Margaret smiled, laying them on the counter

"Miz Orrie, just write it down. Ben will probably be over later to get some beer,' Ellie said as Orrie wrapped everything up.

"Sure thing. Say, did y'all see the weather report for tomorrow? Looks like some fronts will collide."

A shadow crossed Ellie's face. "No. I didn't know that."

They said goodbye and walked out into the sunlight. Ellie stared at the sky, her hand on the Jeep's doorhandle.

"Honey, are you okay? You got kind of quiet in there."

"I'm fine, I just felt like a goose stepped on my grave. Those colliding fronts are bad news sometimes."

Margaret nodded. "I remember we'd get crazy weather like that in Korea. You heard about the tornado we were in."

Ellie nodded as her mother chattered on but drove in throughful silence. She had a strange feeling of deja vu, but couldn't pin down exactly why.

"Maybe it's nothing," she said out loud as they turned into the clinic driveway.

"Huh?" Margaret said, but Ellie was already out of the car before she got any answer.

_**I do not own MASH or its characters. I made up everything else.**_

_**Something scary happens in the next chapter! And no, it's not a tornado. Been there, done dat.**_

_**Thanks to all readers! **_


	5. Chapter 5

Barbara Sills was having trouble with the autoclave door. The hinges were rusty and her furious tug-of-war sent metal flakes sifting to the floor. She was glad to see Doctor Tex's wife and the small, older blonde woman trailing behind her.

"Ellie! Is that your mom?"

"Margaret Pierce, meet Barbara Sills. Barbara, Margaret."

They shook hands and smiled at each other. The autoclave door swung open with a screech.

"I've been trying to open that all day," said Barbara.

Margaret smiled. "We had one like it in Korea and I had nothing but trouble with it. When I went to work at a hospital I thought I'd have something newer, more modern. Nope. Same piece of junk."

"Where's Tex?" Ellie asked, looking around.

"He's on another house call. Diabetic leg wound. Woman had maggots in it. Can you believe that?"

Margaret shrugged, having seen her share of them in Korea.

"So, where's the Doc's father, Charles? I've heard so much about him. Look, I even baked this morning,' said Barbara, handing Ellie a burned black pan.

"Oh, peach cobbler! The pan's still warm," Ellie said.

Barbara smiled. "I'd offer coffee but we're fresh out and Orrie hasn't any on the shelf. But Margaret, I'd love to talk to you about Korea at some point. My late husband served there."

"Why don't you come out to the house tonight? We've got plenty of food. It's better than those crappy TV dinners you eat," Ellie said.

"Nah, honey, I have a date. But I'll drive out for lunch one of these days. My schedule's up and down. Just make sure Tex's dad gets some of that cobbler before it cools off."

"She and Charles would make an interesting couple," Margaret said when they got back in the car.

"Yeah. You know her husband was thrown from a horse? Miserable way to die. Well, it's all pretty bad no matter how you slice it," Ellie said.

_Like overdosing, _Margaret thought, although she didn't say it out loud. Who was she to talk? She'd been on lithium for years now. Ellie wasn't wired the same way. She had been more like her father, internalizing and brooding over problems, or covering everything up with a smart remark. She seemed a little calmer now. Margaret thought about Ellie's head hitting the side of the dning room table, like the crack of a baseball bat.

"A purple one!"

The Jeep screeched to a halt. Ellie was up and out, looking up into the cloudless sky. Margaret got out and shaded her eyes against the sun. A purple Braniff plane was flying directly above them.

"That's the two-thirty. It's usually a green one! There's a late one at night, but I never know that one's color. That's not a 727 either."

They watched the plane and its vapor disappear into the blue horizon. "It makes me think of the outside world," Ellie said, and her mother suddenly felt a little heartbroken.

"We'd better get that cobbler home," Margaret said, finally.

XXXXXXXX

"This is fabulous. What's the baker's name? Barbara Sills? Like Beverly?"

Charles sat alone at the table, spoon in hand and the cobbler in front of him. Hawkeye was now training his efforts on the leaky faucet. Margaret was handing him tools as if they were surgical instruments.

"Charles, you're going to look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy when we leave here. Wrench," Hawkeye said.

"Fie on you. I intend to enjoy my stay in this desert."

Ellie rolled her eyes and put the chops in a huge frying pan. She was not and would never be a cook. Orrie usually had to give her tips on how to cook certain cuts of meat, but just the thought of cooking didn't make Ellie terribly happy. Tex liked to barbeque, so on many nights they'd drag the grill out and throw all kinds of stuff on it.

"Tweezers. Margaret, hurry up"

Tex came in, tired as usual. That leg wound made him a little nauseated. He said hello to all of them and sifted through the refrigerator for a beer. "I see you got Bev's cobbler," he said to Charles, who just nodded. "She said she might come for dinner tomorrow night. Maybe we can barbeque?"

"Absolutely," Ellie said, tears running down her cheeks. She was slicing an onion. Margaret had given up on her plumbing assistance and just wrapped her arms around Hawkeye's waist.

"If Barbara comes, maybe you guys could have a gang bang,' Ellie said, annoyed because her parents were blocking the sink. Tex spit his beer out and started laughing. Margaret turned red.

"Ellie Pierce...uh, Winchester! If you were younger I'd spank you for that."

Ellie was still trying to get to the sink. "Well, you'd have to leave that up to Tex now."

Tex was still laughing and even Charles was trying to hide a smile. Hawkeye turned away, but his shoulders were going up and down. "Honestly, you have a mouth just like...Hawkeye, stop that," Margaret chided.

So they ate and Tex burst out laughing twice just thinking of Margaret's muddled face. "I can't help. Its just such a funny thing," he said, gasping for air. The beer was kicking in a bit.

"Oh my God, Tex, the two-thirty plane was purple today. Shorter than the usual 727, too," Ellie said.

"That must be one of their smaller ones. Someone said there was an orange one the other day."

His stomach lurched as soon as he said that. Tex put his fork down and watched his father eat two helpings of pork chops.

XXXXXX

Hawkeye took his bowl of ice cream on the back porch. Ellie found him out there, just sitting in the swing and staring at the sky. She joined him.

"Big sky out here," he said.

"Sorry about Ben."

Hawkeye's gaze fell. "Maybe it's for the best." He loved Ben, no question, but the kid had always been a little behind. Or maybe it was just the fact he was always being compared to his father and big sister. Margaret was very protective of Ben, in the way mothers and sons bond.

"How's Mom dealing with it?"

"Your mom still has her up and down days. Want to hear something funny? The day before we left Maine she mentioned taking scuba lessons."

"Lord,' Ellie said, rolling her eyes.

Hawkeye put the bowl down and draped an arm around her. "Are you doing okay? Tex says you've been a little up and down lately."

"Dad, if I told you I wanted to go back to work, would you be surprised?"

Hawkeye shook his head. Ellie was quiet for a long time. When he turned to look at her, one tear was rolling down her cheek.

"The ocean's like the sky," she finally said. "I can't count the stars. I'll never know what's at the bottom of the ocean. But right now I feel like I'm losing the parts I do know. Maybe I just should have been a doctor or a nurse. It would have been easier on everyone, especially you and Mom."

Hawkeye smiled. "Honey, it wasn't in the cards for you. You're an explorer. Your grandpa could never get over how you took to the water. And remember that time you jumped into that pond to rescue that little girl? And if you were a doctor, you would have gone to med school and never seen the world. I envy that, and even though she'd never say it, so does your mom."

Ellie looked at her father side-wise and laughed. He picked up her bad hand and very gently opened the clenched fist.

"Did I ever tell you about the time your mother threw a sugar bowl at me in the Mess Tent?"

"Nope."

"And how I got back at her by blowing up 300 condoms and attaching them all to her tent?"

"Dad, that's a lot of condoms, even for you," Ellie said. She knew what he doing. Hawkeye was trying to distract her as he examined her hand. He finally let go of her fingers and wrapped his arm back around her. The wind blew slightly, ruffling the cottonwood trees. The porch swing creaked slightly as they rocked back and forth and Ellie was glad to have her daddy close enough to hug. Tex watched them through the window and looked at his own father, nose in a book, detached.

The falling twilight was shattered by the ring of the phone. Tex groaned and let Charles answer it. When he put the receiver down on the coffee table, Tex was already looking for his car keys.

"Not for you, son. It's some odd Japanese man looking for Ellie," Charles said.

Ellie didn't sound terribly excited when she answered the call, but grew progressively breathless as the conversation continued. Still talking, she scrounged through the closet and found her blueprint case.

"Yes, well, I'm pregnant and won't be doing much traveling in the next year or so. What? Your wife is too? That's great! We could always meet up in Oklahoma City if the government's paying for it. Bring her! No, no good food here unless you like cowboy stuff."

She spread them on the dining room table and talked for two hours, occasionally pointing at the drawings with a ruler. It was late when she finally hung up.

"Who was that?" Tex asked, standing in the kitchen doorway.

"You won't believe it."

"Try me."

"That's Yoshiru Amoto. I've never met him, but I've heard of his underwater capsule project. He heard about my old plans and Bob at Woods Hole passed on our phone number. He wants to bring me on as a consultant. Nice guy! He's only about two years older than I am," Ellie said, smiling and looking a little anxiously at her husband.

Tex, who never wanted anything more than for Ellie to be happy, just smiled. "That sounds great, honey," he said. She rushed forward to hug him.

Ellie ran out to the porch to tell her father, but Margaret was out there with him and they were kissing a little. Feeling a little embarassed, she decided to let them enjoy their time together. Music floated up from the basement, a classical song she couldn't identify. Tex was sitting in the living room, so she ran in and plopped down on his lap, kissing him a little more intimately than he expected. For a moment, they just stared into each other's eyes.

Then they scrambled up the stairs and down the hall to their bedroom, slamming the door behind them.

XXXXXXXX

"Who just slammed a door?" Margaret said, mid-kiss.

"Don't pay any attention to that. It was the wind," said Hawkeye, leaning back towards her.

"It's perfectly still out here."

He rolled his eyes and kissed her again. They sat in the pure silence of the praire.

"Kind of grows on you out here, doesn't it?"

Hawkeye nodded and intertwined his fingers with hers. There was a sudden, high whine overhead.

"That's the late plane," Margaret said knowingly. They watched the plane make its progress across the dark, cloudless sky. Somewhere, a coyote howled.

"Remember when you threw the bowl at me and I tied all those condom balloons to your tent?" Hawkeye asked, just trying to make sure he hadn't dreamed up the incident.

"Three hundred of them. Yes, I remember. We could have used them the first year we were married," she laughed.

As Korea grew further away from them it seemed more and more dream-like. Not like those terrible crystal clear days he sat at home in Crabapple Cove, sure he'd never see Margaret again. Korea was a memory covered with gauze and wrapped up in Hawkeye's heart. Then there was that time they went to LL Bean and he couldn't find her in the crowd. He had a terrible thought. They'd only been married a month and he wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing, that she'd never come to Maine and they'd never been married and he was just alone in the bustling throng. He was beginning to panic when she tapped him on the back and he jumped about a foot in the air.

"I'm glad we came,' he sighed, brushing his lips against her forehead. "I love you so much. More than the sky and the prairie and the 10:35 Braniff flight to Phoenix, blue, green or purple."

She smiled and ran her hand along his thigh.

XXXX

Ellie stayed up until morning, using the kitchen table as a drafting board. She knew it was a little manic and foolish but the ideas just kept pouring from her pencil. Charles was the first person up.

"Have you been up all night, dear?"

Ellie answered him without looking up. Charles couldn't read the blueprints. he could, however, see the monstrous cup of coffee she was drinking.

"Women in your condition should not be up all night drinking coffee by the gallon," he said, elicting an annoyed look.

"Charles, I'll have this wrapped up soon and I'll take a nap. Shoo, get some breakfast or something."

Hawkeye and Margaret walked out of their room, both yawning and wiping their eyes. "Ellie! You've been up all night," Margaret said, her jaw tight. Ellie was also famous for pulling all-nighters during finals time and that drove her mother nuts.

"Geez, I already got the third degree from Charles Emerson. I'm going to bed already," Ellie said, rolling up the blueprints and tossing them in the closet.

She passed Tex on the stairs, mumbling under her breath. He shrugged and made the wise choice to stay out of her way. Besides, Margaret was in the kitchen again and the smell of bacon was beginning to permeate the air.

"I should like to see your office today, son," Charles said, after the breakfast dishes were done.

Tex sighed softly and shrugged. "Okay Dad. Why don't you spend the day with me. Hawkeye, do you want to come along?"

"Nope. I'll stop in but I think I want to explore the town a little bit," he said, knowing that Charles just wanted some quality time with Tex. "Maggie, got any plans?"

"This house needs to be cleaned and I want to just check the farm out. Why don't we all just meet in town for lunch? If Ellie's not up by then I'm sure she wouldn't mind me using her car."

Ellie did get up before lunch. Margaret was dusting the windowsills when Ellie came down, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"I see the butterfly has risen from her coccoon," Margaret laughed. Ellie, cranky with so little sleep, just rolled her eyes. "Everyone's having lunch in town if you want to join us. If not, I need your car."

This was not good news to Ellie. Margaret wasn't a great driver. In fact, since her vision had worsened, she'd become pretty poor. Hawkeye had let her use his own Jeep to pick up groceries one weekend and she drove it straight into the mailbox. He fumed and ranted on the phone to Ellie that night, mad at how Margaret had tossed the incident off and a little frightened because it seemed like the beginning of a new chapter somehow and the end of an old one. That day he looked at an old picture that hung on the staircase wall. It had been taken years before, when Ellie was not quite seven and Ben not quite four. They were all sitting at a picnic table smiling. Ben was cute in his little overalls. Ellie was grinning, already with the long legs and the glint in her eye. Hawkeye was holding a thermos and just looking younger, not much different. But he liked this picture because of Margaret, who was shading her face from the sun and smiling at her family, not the camera. He loved her now, but then he'd loved her in a different way. And this thought just occured to him because of the dent in the Jeep's bumper.

"Mom, I'll take you to town. It's okay. Let me just take a shower," Ellie said. "Didn't they tell you the only place to eat is in a bar? It's pretty seedy, and Charles probably won't like it."

Ellie disappeared around the corner and the sound of the shower blasting drowned out the muffled thumps of the bathroom cabinets closing. Margaret ventured upstairs to take a closer look at the master bedroom. It was painted white, with only a thin layer covering the rough boards on the walls. The roof slanted but the window was large. What wasn't white in the room was blue...the sheets, the rug and the bedside table were all covered in verious shades of blue. It was a pretty room and she was engrossed by it, accidentally startling Ellie when she walked in, wearing a towel.

"This is very pretty, honey. You guys have fixed the house up very nicely."

"Thanks, Mom. All of this had to be ordered from Montgomery Wards. If I stayed with my in-town options, it would all be hung with garden hoses and big spray."

Margaret sat on the bed and Ellie left the room, presumably to change. "Mom, could you cut my hair a little before you leave? It's gone crazy again," Ellie shouted from the bathroom.

"Yes, just let me know when."

The kitten popped out from underneath the bed and Margaret grabbed him. He squirmed and leapt from her hands, taking leave under the bed again. "This cat is just like Pickles," she said as Ellie came back in.

"I thought about that last night. Remember how Pickles would attack that spot on the wall in the upstairs hallway? Or how he'd watch TV? Maybe this is Pickles reincarnated. I'd like that."

The drive to town was a repeat of the previous day's rocking and rolling Jeep adventure. They passed a DOT crew doing a gravel fill job on the wash out. Dust blew everywhere, covering the side of the Jeep and dulling the windshield. When they pulled up to the clinic, the rental car was there. Before Ellie could even walk in, Tex rushed out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the rear of the building.

"He's driving me crazy. I'm not going to lunch."

"Tex, what's he doing?'

"Once again, I can't do anything right." There were tears in his eyes. "He's complaining about the equipment, the house, the car..."

Ellie opened her mouth and shut it. Tex put his hands on her shoulders. "I told him we do the best we can. And we're making a difference. But he doesn't care. I'm supposed to be one of his surgeon yes-men up in Boston. Since I said no, he's going to make my life miserable." His tears flowed freely now in dusty rivulets down his face. Tex put a hand in Ellie's hair and crushed his face to her shoulder. She was shocked at his open emotions, but not so much she couldn't kiss his ear over and over.

"Have you talked to my dad?" she asked, holding him tighter.

"He knows...he saw us today. There's nothing he can say. I'm not Ben, I'm not _his _son. My mom says Dad will never change."

"Oh, some people do, I think. Imagine how he'd be if Korea didn't happen. That glimmer of human compassion probably wouldn't even be there. It takes a big epiphany to make big changes. Maybe he just needs another one," Ellie said, kissing his ear again.

"I'm going to sneak back in through the door here. I don't want Dad to see me crying, then I'll just upset Margaret. Take them to lunch and for God sakes, get Dad out of here. Tell him...tell him he needs to see the old junkyard. He likes old cars," Tex said, wiping his eyes with his palms.

He kissed Ellie and bounded up the steps. All through lunch Charles was quiet, but that was okay because as usual Hawkeye and Margaret did most of the talking. Luckily, the junkyard was a hit with everyone. Hawkeye and Charles walked around to inspect the old cars and Margaret sat with Ellie in the shade.

"We'll have to drag your dad out of here," said Margaret, laughing."Oh no, is he sitting in that car?"

"Mom, Tex is really upset with Charles," Ellie said, not wanting to upset her mother but just trying to re-state the obvious. Margaret just nodded.

"Hawkeye told me when we were in the clinic. Charles has his ways of being a bore. When he showed up at the 4077th, Charles wanted to go out with me. I almost said yes...but then I witnessed how he treats people. I was just getting over a divorce and your dad was starting to come into my life a bit more. The war did make Charles more human...but he's still a work in progress. But no more so than the rest of us."

At that moment, Hawkeye and Charles approached, laughing and slapping each other on the back. "I'd drive that Model T the whole way back to Maine," Hawkeye snorted. "Just give me a waterbag and a can of Burma-Shave." Margaret wrapped an arm around him. Charles stared at the ground. _She turned him down thirty years ago and he's still jealous, _Ellie thought, wincing. The rich man never got what he wanted most and that was Margaret Houlihan Penobscot Pierce. A sobering thought that was even worse because Tex knew it, too.

Orrie sent them out to the Double L Ranch for steaks. Hawkeye put on a game face when the ranch hands flirted with Ellie. Charles sat glumly in the car, watching the darkening skies. Margaret fell in love with a silver pony that ran in senseless circles around the corral. The old trail boss let her feed the pony and apple and carrot. She babbled the whole way back, Hawkeye nodding in the driver's seat and Ellie desperately wanting just to get in her Jeep and leave them all behind. Charles sat with a cooler full of steaks in his lap, still watching the clouds roll by.

XXXXXXXX

The cookout went as scheduled that evening. Barbara did show up, even though the animosity between father and son had colored her day brown. Tex and Charles stayed away from each other. Tex was in charge of the grill, enjoying one skill his father didn't possess as well. Barbara sat on the porch with Ellie and they played whatever card game popped into their heads. The Pierces were trying to play croquet on the parched lawn.

"Hey, pick those wickets up when you're done! I don't want to be tripping over them like at home," Ellie shouted as her father knocked the ball into the weeds for the fifteenth time.

Charles watched all this from the living room. His book wasn't all that good. Part of him felt bad about his actions that day.

"Hey Charley!"

He winced as Barbara stuck her head in the window. "Get out here and park your carcass and play cards with me!" He sighed and put the book on the arm of the chair. It was about the Hindenburg. They spent a surprisingly agreeable hour playing gin.

"This is about the best steak I've ever had," Margaret said, putting down her plate. Hawkeye and Charles nodded in agreement.

"That's one of the upshots of cattle country," said Tex, cleaning his plate with a slice of bread. They were all sleepy from the food intake, and about an hour later none could really move off the porch. Hawkeye, Tex, Barbara and Charles were all drinking longnecks and listening to the wind. Clouds billowed and boiled, blocking out the last rays of the sun. A stiff breeze blew now and then, but it was cool and ruffled the white curtains and made them hover like ghosts.

Lightning lit the sky and Ellie dragged her chair down off the porch for a better look. Tex shrugged and joined her, putting his chair next to hers and wrapping an arm around her shouders. On the porch, Hawkeye couldn't really make out what they were saying, but Tex pointed his beer bottle at the sky a few times and Ellie waved her arms around in the direction of the storm and kissed Tex right at the jawline.

"They're cute, aren't they? They really do make a great couple," Margaret observed, moving next to Hawkeye.

"I can see it in his eyes. We...you and I...were like that."

At about 10:30, the clouds had formed an enormous seething mass to the west. Charles sat on the side of the porch, staring at it. The gold and green mass of clouds occasionally lit up with lightning. Ellie was now standing at the end of the sidewalk, staring at the them. They could just barely make each other out in the gloom. Otherwise, the sky to the east and directly overhead seemed clear.

The red lights of the 10:35 Braniff came overhead, and its jet noise followed a minute later. They all watched it make its way through the dense atmosphere.

The plane broke through a light spot in the wall of clouds. The jet noise lingered overhead. A faint breeze blew. The world fell into a slow motion.

There was an explosion, a sudden crackling sound like wet wood in a fireplace.

Blinding light came from the clouds, and two fireballs fell toward earth, spiralling rapidly.

A soft rain began to fall that reeked of kerosene.

Off about a mile in the distance, a glow was spreading on the horizon.

And no one said anything or moved at all until Ellie screamed from her place at the end of the sidewalk.


	6. Chapter 6

Hawkeye's heart took a miserable skip. He turned his attention briefly to Ellie as her scream was carried off by the increasing wind. His eyes then shifted back to glow over the horizon and the crackling sound that echoed over the flat land and the tumbleweeds.

Margaret was suddenly beside him and she was talking but he couldn't hear her. All he could tell was that her mouth was moving. The orange horizon was reflected in her watery eyes. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh.

"What are you saying? What are you saying?" He shook her but she kept talking. Charles Winchester broke from his hypnosis and pulled Margaret away.

"Pierce, we have to go," Charles said, but made no indication of whether he meant to the crash or back to New England. Tex bound up the porch stairs with Ellie following close behind. Barbara was already on the phone, raising the alarm in town. From far away, the warning siren began to wail. Tex had his bag and every bottle of medicine from the bathroom cabinets in an old duffel bag.

"Dad, Hawkeye, Barbara...let's get going. Ellie's going to get the old farm truck started so we can haul people out if we need to. Margaret, go downstairs and grab the box of flashlights and ride with El."

Ellie was pouring gasoline into the truck's carbuerator when she heard the Jeep crank up. Her mother came into the barn, looking frightened. She threw the box of flashlights and a large searchlight in the back of the rusted-out International Harvester.

"Mom, get up there and let's start it up," Ellie said, stepping back.

Margaret climbed into the old jalopy and sat down, causing a huge puff of dust to erupt from the seat. The key hung from the ignition. She turned it and gunned the engine. The truck belched noxious clouds of smoke, but it was actually running. Ellie slammed the hood, causing rust to sift down to the ground, and jumped into the cab as Margaret moved to the passenger side. She watched her daughter pull the choke and mash down the clutch and without warning they flew out of the garage and rocketed across the dusty barnyard. The truck kick up rooster tails of gravel as it slalomed on the county road. Margaret was being flung around its interior until Ellie was able to get the thing under control. It shimmied up the road, bouncing in the ruts. In no time they caught up to the Jeep. Tex spotted the round headlights in the rearview mirror and thanked God Ellie hadn't run that damn uncontrollable truck into the house.

No one said much in the Jeep. Hawkeye ran his hand across his bottom lip, causing it to bleed a little. Charles was fascinated by the _potential_ of this accident. He was also a little sick about what those last moments must have been like for those poor souls. He glanced back at Barbara, who was shuffling through the medical bag to be sure the gauze and scissors were on top. Tex had thrown an ax in the rear of the Jeep, praying they wouldn't have to use it for medical reasons.

Ellie watched as the Jeep turned off on an old country road. She followed them, jerking the wheel and sliding around on the seat.

"Watch your stomach, please," Margaret said sternly. Ellie frowned at the thought. Her mother didn't say anything else until Ellie slammed on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the Jeep. Tex had come to a dead stop and was apparently trying to get his bearings.

"Over there! The west! Use your compass," Ellie yelled from the truck. He shook his head and waved them around the Jeep. He'd follow her now.

"You know in all these years I've never been tempted to cheat on your father," said Margaret. "But things are different these days."

Ellie's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. Bringing up strange things at inappropriate times was a Houlihan speciality. Cinders were hitting the windshield and Ellie fancied she could smell the burning fuselage. Every second they weren't there, someone was dying. She hit the accelerator and hummed softly to calm herself. A rich smell of burning oil permeated the cab. The humming turned to singing, and although Margaret didn't know the song well and thought "Cheeseburger In Paradise" was completely inappropriate, soon she was singing too.

She had been right about the directions. Pieces of insulation began to dot the landscape, and the glow semed to come from just over a small hill. At the top, Ellie exhaled sharply. The plane had crashed into a small pond. The tail was undamaged and lying right side up. You could even read the letters "BI" on it. Everything else was on fire. The jet fuel was burning away, making the whole pond a circle of flames. Some cottonwood trees around it were incinerated.

They got out of the truck and shielded their eyes. Neither could see any sign of life. One of the plane's engines sighed and burst. Metal engine parts richoted everywhere and hit them like shrapnel. One of them broke the truck's windshield. Another one glanced off Ellie's forehead. Margaret pulled her into an embrace. Her shoulder and neck were wet with her daughter's tears and blood.

The Jeep pulled up beside them momenst later and Tex charged down the hill with the duffel bag slung over his shoulders. Barbara, Hawkeye, Charles, Margaret and Ellie dutifully followed. Ellie had an old fire extinguisher and used it to quell the flames around the base of a tree. Its branches were decorated with coats and suitcases and papers.

Hawkeye made a terrible discovery a few yards away. Margaret heard him yell and ran toward his voice. A pair of blue aircraft seats were lying in the grass. A pale hand was sticking out from underneath and a pool of blood was forming around it.

"They're beyond help," Hawkeye said sadly. Margaret struggled to lift the seat to double check. Sightless eyes greeted her. She laid the seat back down gently and stepped back slowly. One of the bodies was missing everything below the seat belt. Hawkeye grabbed her by the wrist and led her away.

Charles wasn't having any better luck. He was looking up in the trees at all the strange leaves that seemed to be growing up there. Tex appeared, looking a little lost and ghostly in his white coat. He was just about to tell his father about the seats Hawkeye had found when the wind blew again and something heavy fell from the tree, landing behind them.

"What the hell was that?" Tex asked no one in particular. The two of them picked their way over an overhead bin only to find a torso had dropped from some great height. They looked at each other and quite stoically marched away.

Ellie had a gigantic flashlight she swept around the pond. She was screaming at the top of her lungs for anyone alive to yell back. Barbara was praying loudly for everyone's souls, including her own. Tex was pacing impatiently, waiting for the firefighers to arrive.

Margaret found her husband on the far edge of the pond, stomping through the cat-tails.

"There could be some of them here. Help me find them," he said, pleading. She joined him but could only find a leg, still wearing a running shoe very much like the ones Hawkeye had on. When Ellie swept the light over their area, Hawkeye caught sight of Margaret's face, scratched and bloodied from the engine explosion.

"Maggie, your face is bleeding." She wiped her palm across her forehead and stared at her hand.

They both startled when a shout crossed the area. "Ellie, get back here!"

It was Charles. Hawkeye and Margaret sloshed out of the weeds and up the bank just in time to see their pregnant daughter half-wading and half-swimming to a piece of wreckage. Barbara ran up to them.

"Tex thinks he saw a baby lying face-down in the water over there. Ellie just jumped right in. I couldn't stop her," she said.

"The light, Charles, shine the light!"

Ellie was feeling around in the general area. Everyone was watching her wade through the murky, smelly, fiery waist deep water, which was now more jet fuel than anything else. "It's in front of you! About ten feet," Tex yelled as Charles trained the spotlight.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Ellie chanted, teeth chattering. She stumbled over something submerged and went completely under. Ellie came up sputtering and cursing. The baby was floating freely face-down on the surface in a circle of napkins. She reached out tentatively.

It was a life-sized baby doll.

"It's a doll," she said, giving Tex the "ok" sign. Then she was hit by a wave of sadness. Was this a gift for a little girl who'd never se her daddy/mommy/grandpa/grandma again? Or did she clutch the doll in those long minutes as the jet hurtled towards the ground? Ellie stood still, clutching the doll and shaking, unable to hear what they were shouting at her. Then the fog cleared.

_"...behind you...!"_

Ellie turned around slowly. Something was bumping her in the rear end but she'd been too preoccupied to worry about it. The "thing" was a body, floating free on the surface of the water. She yelped and ran into another body, burned beyond recognition. Tex was about to come down the bank and grab her when she suddenly moved quickly, stuffing the doll down her shirt and grabbing both bodies, the skin peeling off the burnt one like parchment. With a great heave she tossed them on the bank and scrambled up, dripping and reeking of jet fuel. Ellie took the doll out of her shirt and hung onto it for dear life. She collapsed in the mud at Hawkeye's feet.

"You're crazy! You have a baby to think about! Why'd you do that? You could have..."

Margaret stood over her, scolding. She stopped when she saw the cuts Ellie had from the flying metal, one of which was a jagged open wound right over the eyelid. Ellie goggled up at her mother and held out a hand full of the burned skin.

"Mom, your face," Ellie said. "You're all cut up."

The firetrucks were arriving. Tex ran to greet them while Charles and Hawkeye walked the perimeter, still looking for signs of life. Ellie, Margaret and Barbara pulled more bodies ashore at the bottom of the bank. A helicopter buzzed overhead with a searchlight.

"Plane spun in, no survivors," said one firefighter into a crackling radio. Margaret stopped her recovery efforts and stood straight up. She'd ripped a nail clean off. _This is how they found Henry Blake, if they ever did._ The thought saddened her beyond words. She sat on the bank and said a silent prayer for everyone.Ellie sloshed up to her and sat down.

"You're thinking about Colonel Blake, aren't you?"

Margaret nodded. Ellie looked a lot like Hawkeye at that moment. She even sat like him. Margaret draped an arm around her and they sat to watch the firefighters put the flames out. "This is when I could really use a drink," Margaret said, pulling up handfulls of dry grass in each hand.

"I think I understand what you mean," Ellie said. Tex was waving frantically at the two of them. Some of the firefighters were cutting themselves on the jagged wreckage and choking on the acrid smoke. Charles was patiently washing their eyes out and Hawkeye was talking to some that were traumatized at the whole scene. Margaret got up and went to help. Ellie sat for a while longer before walking down to see what she could do.

XXXX

The first light of morning began to peek through the clouds five hours later. The NTSB was there, the FAA and every sort of Braniff investigator you could imagine. They learned that out of 70 passengers and five crew members, no one survived. It was severe turbulence, the NTSB ventured, and it caused the plane to break up in the air. A wing was found a mile away and part of the passenger cabin was spotted just over two miles away. Reporters were beginning to queue up to talk to everyone. Charles handled them beautifully.

Ellie still had the doll. She tried to give it to the FAA rep, but he told her to hang onto it until they could figure out who it belonged to. She was covered with mud, grass, vomit (her own and and a firefighter's), blood and bruises. Tex found her by the water's edge. He was a bit cleaner but terribly tired.

"I don't think I want to fly for awhile," she said, poking in the water with a scavenged golf club.

Tex nodded and wiped her face with a semi-clean cloth. The cuts weren't as bad as they looked. "When we get home, I want you to rest for a few days...for your sake and the baby's."

He expected a fight, but she just shrugged, still lost in her own little world. Tex left her there to check on Barbara, who decided to make piles of clothes and car keys just to help out. Some firefighters joined her, eager to do something to make sense of the chaos. Hawkeye and Margaret were opening wallets in search of ID's. Charles just stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the bodies covered by sheets and tarps. A light rain began to fall, making the sheets nearly transparent. There were some children on the plane. He hadn't noticed this while they were pulling them from the water.

"You guys need to clear out of here so we can start the investigation," a Braniff guy told Charles as he surveyed the bodies. The Pierces were already loading everything into the truck and the Jeep. Ellie allowed herself to be dragged up the bank by a fireman. Tex straggled towards them, his arm around Barbara.

"Dad, could you drive us back?" he asked, waiting for a "no" from Charles. Instead, his father took the keys and climbed into the Jeep's driver's seat. Barbara climbed into the back and Tex joined her. Hawkeye was asleep from the moment he sat in the passenger's seat.

Ellie got the old truck running and had just about made it into the cab before she threw up again. Margaret leaned out, her eyes involuntarily closing. When she opened her eyes again, Ellie was back in the truck. They had a perfect view of the plane's tail.

"BAC-111. Braniff International Airways. A green one," Ellie recited before popping the clutch and sailing over the top of the hill. She chattered on about the plane's specifications the whole way home. It was a trick to keep herself awake. Margaret let herself cry for the first time and laid her head on Ellie's shoulder. Ellie kept talking, oblivious to her mother's actions.

At the house, it was a struggle just to make it up the porch steps. They let Ellie shower first. Tex went off to wash in a watering trough that was behind the house. He came back in to find Ellie naked and in a deep sleep on top of the bed covers. She'd put a Band-Aid haphazardly over the cut. Tex tucked her in and was quickly asleep as well.

Charles took a quick shower and wobbled downstairs. He fell across the bed, upsetting the pile of records and the kitten. Hawkeye and Margaret showered together. They had to prop each other up. She wrapped her arms around him and didn't let go until they made it to bed.

"I told Ellie today I have never been tempted to cheat on you," Margaret sighed.

"Okay," Hawkeye said, and promptly fell asleep. She watched him for awhile before nodding off.

Barbara Sills couldn't even make it to the shower. She took some pillows and made a little nest for herself on the downstairs couch.

The house was quiet for a grand total of twelve hours. The kitten roamed from room to room, meowing and batting at noses, but it soon gave up and curled into a little ball by Charles and fell asleep, too.


	7. Chapter 7

Sleep didn't come easy to Ellie. She was in a shallow slumber when Tex came in, but spent most of the time staring at the ceiling and watching the numbers tick by on the alarm clock. Her eyes felt like the bright searchlights that swept across the wreck. Back and forth, back and forth, lighting up the rescuers and the sheet metal and the dead bodies floating in the pond.

Then she realized she was dreaming because she was at home in Crabapple Cove and it was winter time. The harsh light of the winter morning came in through the stained glass window, throwing colors on the dining room table, where she was sitting. Ben was in another room, chattering to his toys and stomping across the floor. She had this day memorized and returned to it occasionally in dreams, trying to extract its importance.

Ellie got up and wandered into the parlor. Her father was in front of the fireplace. The Sunday paper covered his face. She loved him, not in a complicated way. Ben swooped in and out with a toy plane. He couldn't be more than six and had all the look of a cherub, with his blonde curls and chubby pink cheeks. Everything was hazy and Ellie was aware of how it felt like she was floating from room to room.

The front door opened and in came her mother. A familiar perfume scent followed, something Ellie hadn't smelled in years. White Shoulders? Anyways, Margaret was dressed up and obviously just back from church. Ben ran towards her and jumped into his mother's arms.

"Mommy! What did you bring me?" he demanded.

Margaret produced a donut from her purse, carefully wrapped in a napkin. It was a bribe to convince Ben to come with her to church, the source of the donuts. It never worked. Ben preferred them to be delivered on Sunday mornings.

"How was church?" Hawkeye asked from behind the paper.

"Fine, not that you'd care," Margaret snapped, ignoring Ellie and moving toward the kitchen. Ben took the donut and broke it in half.

"Ellie, want half? Want half?" he asked, practically pressing the treat into her face. Ellie waved him off and wandered to the kitchen, which had grown to gargantuan proportions, like it was a photo that had been taken with a fish-eye lens. The black and white tile looked like a demonic chessboard. The scent of pine cleaner was overwhelming. She peeked around the door sill, just in to to see her mother pouring something from a bottle into a Dixie Cup. She drank and grimaced. Margaret turned around, glimpsing Ellie hovering in the doorway.

"What do you want? Why are you always sneaking around the house? Get out of my sight."

Ellie stood watching as Margaret practically threw the bottle under the sink. It crashed into a Flit can.

"Get out of here. Go to your room. I don't think you're half as smart as they say you are."

Ellie didn't move. Instead, she said a piece of a poem that popped into her head.

_There will come soft rains and the smell of ground..._

"Get out of here!" Margaret hissed, making as if she were going to throw the half-full cup at her daughter.

_And swallows circling with their shimmering sound..._

The color was draining from the kitchen. It ran in every direction, like a oil painting submerged in water. Margaret's face began to age slowly as the room began to shrink.

"I never meant to hurt you. I've spent the latter part of my life making that up to you. Can't you forgive me just this once? Before I die, can you ever forgive me?"

Ellie started to say something, but the scene shifted like a television changing channels.

She was on the boat, out in the clear blue waters of the Bahamas. People she missed terribly were there. Ellie's heart felt full at the sight of their happy faces. Chad! Gary! Cheryn! Where have you been? You left me behind...please don't leave me behind again.

"Come in! We're going to follow this old Bimini Road and see where it takes us," they shouted from the water.

Ellie had no scuba gear, no snorkel, no fins. She jumped in to join her friends, smiling as the rays of sun beat through the water and the golden road stretched on forever.


	8. Chapter 8

Ellie woke up and immediately her hand went to her forehead. Something was dripping into her eyes. Blood. Fantastic. Tex was still asleep and sprawled across the mattress. There was no noise in the house, save for a dripping faucet in the bathroom. It was cool and airy and the breeze felt good on her body.

She went to clean up the cut just over her eye. Their clothes reeked of plane crash and in turn made the bathroom smell like an auto garage. Ellie picked up the shirt she'd been wearing. It came from her favorite restaurant in the Bahamas. The shirt was damaged beyond belief, covered in vomit and blood and jet fuel.

Standing naked under the bare bulb, Ellie was amazed at all the cuts and burns she'd sustained and not realized. A fingernail was almost completely gone. That was courtesy the door of the old truck. Her legs were bruised and scratched and her hands were peppered with burns and blisters. Her lungs also felt full of the acrid stench and it would be weeks before she'd stop coughing up black snot.

But most of her attention was on that gaping cut. It needed stitches, fast, but in a house full of doctors and nurses Ellie didn't want to wake any of them up. So she taped a piece of gauze over it and threw on a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt and headed downstairs.

The kitchen was quiet, too, and she could just see into the guestroom where her parents were dozing. Margaret was sleeping on the very edge of the bed as Hawkeye sprawled, just like Tex upstairs. She snuck into the living room where the nest of pillows on the floor was the only thing left of Barbara. A note on the door thanked them but she was headed home to feed her cats.

Ellie put two pieces of bread in the oven and started to heat the kettle. She was trying to find the jelly when she began to feel the cut dripping again. Stopping the tide with a paper towel, Ellie took her toast out of the oven and made a cup of coffee. She was just about to take a bite when Charles appeared from the basement. He was clad in a bathrobe, and what was left of his hair stuck straight up in the air. He squinted at her and retreated to the bathroom without saying a word. Ellie knew she was a sight, too and forgot that she was bleeding profusely.

When Charles came back out, he looked at her for a long time. He sighed.

"Good morning Charles," she said, dunking her toast in the coffee. "Can I get you some coffee?"

Charles walked toward her and pried her hand away from her forehead. "Good God, how long have you been bleeding like that?" he asked, sounding shocked.

"I don't know," was her honest answer. Charles cleared his throat.

"Where does your husband keep his medical bag?"

"The hall closet."

She watched him disappear and finished her toast. She really wanted pizza. Margaret Pierce could make really good pizza.

Charles reappeared with the black bag and dragged a chair directly in front of Ellie. He wordlessly peeled the layers of soaked gauze and paper towels off her face and laid them on the table. He filled a syringe with novacaine and dangled it in font of Ellie, who flinched.

"I really don't like needles," she said.

"No one does. When I was young, I stepped on a rusty nail and my father had to give me a tetanus shot. Well, I had to run and hide because those tetanus needles were tremendous. He found me sitting in a corner of the attic and tanned my bottom with a belt. And while he was tanning me, my mother gave me the shot. I never felt it because I was concentrating on my behind, not my arm."

While he was telling her this, Charles gave Ellie the shot. She didn't flinch because she was interested in his childhood. Tex knew very little about his father's life as a young boy. Ellie was trying to remember every word so she could repeat it accurately.

"Now, just let me know when your forehead feels numb."

"It does now."

Charles started stitching. My God, he's really good at this. Her father was an excellent doctor but could be a little rough around the edges with the finer points. Margaret was the old school nurse who berated her own children for crying come shot time. But Charles was concentrating completely on the task at hand and using very little, fine stitches. It took about ten minutes, but Ellie felt like she was in capable hands.

"No scar. The way I stitched that, you'd need a magnifying glass to see any scar," Charles gloated. "And it doesn't look as bad now."

Ellie smiled at him. Charles was a braggart but a great doctor. She'd heard that her whole life, but now she'd experienced it first-hand. Tex and his father were a lot alike, and she secretly thought Tex was one of the most patient doctors she'd ever seen. It was in his blood, apparently.

"Now young lady, I must take another shower to clean off the rest of the eau de Braniff."

"Hey Charles. Thanks. You did a great job."

He smiled at her and headed toward the bathroom. Ellie watched him disappear and heard a bit of murmered conversation from her parent's room. It was a reassuring sound, something she'd heard on Saturday mornings for years. She'd always been an early bird and would sometimes wait out in the hallway under a plant stand for Hawkeye and Margaret to wake up. That was before she discovered the barrage of cartoons on TV.

Ellie stuck her head in the door, just to make sure they weren't naked. They weren't so she went in.

"Honey!" Margaret cried, seeing Ellie's swollen face.

"It's okay. Charles took care of it. I just can't move my eyebrows right now," Ellie said, sitting on edge of the bed. Margaret pulled her into an embrace."Ma, I'm good. Your face is a little cut-up, too, so don't panic when you look in the mirror, alright?"

Hawkeye moaned and moved into a sitting position. He was momentarily startled by Ellie's face, which seemed to have aged twenty years. Ellie recognized this and smiled at him. "Glad I'm not in the Miss America pageant tonight."

He hugged her, too and buried his face in her hair. "Honey, I'm sorry you had to see all that," he said sadly, not wanting to let her go. Ellie pulled away, a look of concern crossing her face.

"Dad, I'm fine. Honestly."

Margaret was up and raring to go. That was the thing, Margaret was either at 0 percent or 100 percent. She didn't really have those foggy mornings in bed. When she was awake, she was in high gear.

"I'm going to make breakfast. A nice, big breakfast...if you'll help me, Hawkeye," she said, smiling in a way Ellie knew her father couldn't resist.

Ellie wandered back upstairs as Margaret tore into the kitchen. Tex was rubbing his eyes and trying to sit up.

"Mom's making breakfast," Ellie said, curling up beside him.

"That's good. I could eat a horse or something larger," he yawned, pulling her close. "Who stitched you up? It looks like someone got murdered on your side of the bed."

It really did. Dried blood was smeared all over the pillowcase and sheets. Tex slowly got out of bed and Ellie ripped the covers off.

"Oh, there's that damn doll you hauled around all night."

Ellie had forgotten about the burned baby doll. It was sitting in a corner, propped on a rocking chair. Her heart broke again for the little girl that carried it, or the person that was bringing it home for a loved one.

"I'm going to have to take it back out there," she mumbled, wincing.

"Naw. It's all government types out there. Call the airline. They're bound to be making nice with families."

Ellie nodded and swallowed back a lump in her throat.

"My dad did your stitches. I can tell. They're tiny. He's really good at the fine work. Too bad he'll never let you forget it."

Tex threw on a t-shirt and some jeans and they both headed back to the kitchen, where Margaret was making waffles and sausage. Charles and Tex ate three helpings, to the Pierce family's amusement.

XXXX

Tex decided to head to town and everyone wanted to go along. So, the caravan bumped over the muddy roads to Wheeless, which looked much busier than it ever had. Every car had an Avis or Hertz sticker and displayed Texas or Kansas plates.

"The government has arrived. Is this cowtown prepared?" Hawkeye asked, sounding like a ringmaster. The small town did indeed look like a circus. Ellie climbed out of her Jeep and waved at a fireman she recognized from the night before. TV stations had their big trucks set up at the old elementary school and ominous looking black government cars dotted Main Street. The sheriff sauntered over to Ellie and shook her hand.

"I hear you folks were first on the scene. A shame about the whole damn thing, if you ask me. I'd never go up in one of those steel tubes, anyhow," he said. Sheriff Haynes wore his silver badge and its reflection from the sun caused Ellie to squint. He was about 6'4" and 300 pounds.

"Hey Sheriff...are there any Braniff people in town?"

"Sure are. They're eating sandwiches over at the store. They're all tore up. Just the damndest thing."

Ellie marched away, well aware Haynes was watching her ass. He wasn't above a grope every now and then, either. She prayed he wouldn't run into her mother, who would slap him, lawman or not.

The Braniff reps were glumly eating when Ellie came up.

"Hey. I was at the scene last night and I recovered a doll that I'm sure belongs to someone. I want to make sure it gets to where it was going," Ellie said. One of the Braniff guys got up to shake her hand.

"We'll try. Right now everything's topsy-turvy. We'll stop by later and take a look at it with the manifest. Most of the families have already been notified," he said sadly.

Ellie looked over the group and felt sorry for all of them. It wasn't their fault, but they were guilty in everyone's eyes.

"If you come out tonight, come out for dinner. We'll do hot dogs or something, nothing fancy. I know you guys could use a break," Ellie said with a hopeful smile.

"That's sounds real good," said a woman wearing a brown business suit. All five smiled at the invitation.

"We're right down the county road...Route 1...it's the white house with the orange Chevette. Five o'clock," Ellie said, before she walked away.

Margaret did indeed run into Sheriff Haynes. She was just about to open the door into Orrie's when he reached over her head and opened it for her. He tipped his cap.

"Hi honey. I was watching you come up the sidewalk and wondering what a pretty blonde thing like you was doing here in Wheeless," he said. Magaret's eyes narrowed.

"I'm the sheriff here...name's Billy Haynes. You can call me Billy. If you're not busy later...," he said, looking at her wedding ring,"...we can always go have a beer down at the saloon."

Margaret's breath came in short puffs. "Let me guess, you look old enough to have been in Korea, right?" she asked, gritting her teeth.

"I shore was. Served a full tour in the Army. Never got wounded," Haynes chuckled.

"What was your rank at the end of that tour?"

"I was a corporal. M.P."

"Well, I was a major," Margaret smiled. It was an icey grin.

Haynes stepped back.

"That's right. I had to nurse all your little buddies back from the brink and keep my head with all the shells bursting around the hospital. And I sure as hell didn't do all that to come back to the US to be hit on by Corporals wearing a tin star," Margaret hissed.

Haynes was dumbstruck.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm Ellie Winchester's mom. I wouldn't try your little games on her, either. She swings a real mean oxygen tank."

Orrie was behind the counter and heard the whole exchange. The door swung closed and the sound of the sheriff's boots shuffling away echoed in the store's interior.

"Boy, you let him have it. About time someone did," Orrie laughed. "I'll bet that overgrown bastard wasn't at that crash last night, either."

"No, he wasn't. I'd remember him," Margaret smiled. She gathered some bits and pieces from the shelves, including a can of peaches so thick with dust it caused a momentary sneezing fit. Ellie came in and hugged Orrie, who fretted over her eye.

"Your ma just told Haynes where to put it," Orrie whispered.

"Oh. I see," Ellie smiled. She watched Margaret wander up the aisles, feeling proud. "Orrie, I'm going to need every hot dog you've got."

Margaret heard the request and wandered up.

"Mom, I invited the Braniff reps to the house for a cookout tonight. They're trying to figure out who the doll belonged to," Ellie said, stacking hot dog buns on the counter.

"That's nice. You have a very big-hearted daughter, Margaret," Orrie said, returning with an entire box of hot dogs. Margaret smiled and threw her arm around Ellie, who leaned on her mother in return. "Tell you what, if you come back after lunch, I'll have some potato salad made. Do you need beans, too?"

"Sure," Ellie smiled.

Orrie looked up quickly. Margaret and Ellie spun around. Passing up Main Street, a flatbed displayed the tail of the fallen jet. It was so amazingly out of place in the small town. "I'll be damned," was all Orrie could say. Margaret looked away, but Ellie watched it trundle down the road, leaving disgrunted cowboys and cowgirls in its wake. It was a splash of color on the dusty brown landscape.

Hawkeye came into the store, shaking his head. "Ladies, Charles and I are going back to the junkyard. We'll have the Chevette," he said, jingling the keys.

"Please don't buy anything!" Margaret called after him.

"Well, since we have time to kill, let's go see Tex at the clinic..then we can come back for the salad and beans. See ya, Orrie," Ellie smiled, her flip-flops clomping on the floorboards. Margaret watched her saunter out and thought about being young and in love.

"One day I'd love to have it all back. Wouldn't you?" Orrie asked. Margaret just nodded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Margaret and Hawkeye drove back to the house together in the Jeep. She leaned against him as they bounced over the gullies and washouts.

"Remember those roads in Korea? These are very close," she said.

"At least we're not getting shelled. Last night brought all that back," Hawkeye said quietly. "Do you realize we're Colonel Potter's age now? Or older? I always thought he fudged it a little."

Margaret cleared her throat and said,"He always seemed so old to us."

Hawkeye nodded and stopped the vehicle. Dust flew up around them.

"Why'd you stop?"

He leaned over and kissed her warmly. Margaret was momentarily taken aback. It did seem like they were back in the war, chasing after everything but each other. "Good thing we'll have the house to ourselves for a bit," he said, winking. She smiled at him. It was always when they had moments like this that Margaret remembered why they were together. In Korea, it was a kiss on a picnic...holding hands on the beach...in the hut with bombs bursting in the air...a hot, sticky June night in her tent...

_She knew what he wanted, but she wanted the same thing. They tried to make idle chatter and have a drink, but the warm air surrounding them made her light-headed. The bunk creaked as she sat beside him. _

_"Would you kiss me?" she asked and was immediately rewarded with an intense lip-lock. That day he'd all but ruined a demonstration in the mess tent. Charles was trying to train the nurses for triage, but in burst BJ and Hawkeye, clowning as usual. Hawkeye pulled her close as a joke...and she chased him quickly away. _

_But now she moaned as his mouth dropped to her throat._

_Hawkeye came to her that night to apologize, but that's not what either of them was looking for. They hadn't touched each other sexually since that dumb night in the hut. But this was different. There was no desperation, no sense of urgency. _

_Soon they were completely naked and sweating and completely entwined with each other. They were laughing, sure the whole camp could hear them going at it. Neither of them cared. It was sweet to be with each other like that, just for that moment in time. He stayed with her the whole night, something her gossipy nurses said he never did. Margaret knew he was watching her, knew he was awake because she could feel his hands move up and down her back._

"Yeah, I'm glad we'll have some time to ourselves," she winked back.

XXXX

The airline people pulled up at the farmhouse just in time for the picnic to start. Margaret and Hawkeye were a little flushed but with the suntans no one noticed. Barbara was back, too, once again playing cards with Charles.

"That son of yours is a really good doctor," she said, laying down a queen. "Best I ever seen."

Charles puffed up noticeably as he shuffled the cards around. "He grew up watching me," he sniffed.

"I just think there are some things in medicine you can't learn. They just have to always be there. Compassion, for one."

Charles was quiet. Hawkeye, BJ and Potter had all the compassion. He had all the smarts. Sometimes compassion doesn't save lives.

Yes, he had all the smarts. Unfortunatly, Hawkeye had a loving family and the woman Charles had dreamed of for years. Watching the Pierce kids grow, he coveted the family football games and the big holidays and the modest home they made together. Tex had been thousands of miles away from him for years, and still truly was. They were two different men with blood as their only tie.

His attention shifted to Hawkeye and Ellie, bickering over the goofy old truck.

"Don't start it until I tell you, okay?"

Ellie was in the driver's seat and Hawkeye had the hood up.

"I'm starting it now," Ellie said.

"No! No!"

Hawkeye stuck his head under the hood and Ellie honked the horn. He leapt back.

"Hear that? Horn works great!" Ellie laughed.

She jumped out of the cab and took off running. Hawkeye gave chase for a bit but gave up as she ran toward the house. Margaret wandered over to the truck and led her husband away, laughing.

"Earth to Charles."

Barbara was staring at him. His turn now.

XXXXX

Fifty hot dogs later, the group laid all over the front yard. Ellie sat on the steps clutching the doll, watching as Ellen Berstein went over the passenger list.

"Nope. Nope. Nope. No kids on board young enough for that kind of doll. There was an elderly couple, though...seats 11A and 11B. The family said they were flying north to see their grandkids. I'll bet that's it," Ellen said, still studying her sheet.

"Who's going to call them?" Ellie asked.

"If you can let me use the phone, I'll call them right now. Wait out here," Ellen instructed. Margaret came to the porch and sat beside Ellie.

"I can cut your hair tonight if you want. It would almost be a shame, though. I think it looks nice a little longer, like you have it,' Margaret said, chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"When you were little, your hair was dark, like your dad's. But then Ben came and he had all that blonde hair. Everyone thought he got it from me. That wasn't true."

"Yeah, I know you're a real brunette," Ellie said. She started eating another hot dog.

"When did you find that out?"

"Dark roots and all those boxes of Miss Clairol. And Dad told me because one time I was complaining about my hair. Said he couldn't take all the blame."

Margaret was speechless. Another big secret down the drain. Ellie's hair had faded from a dark brown to a blondish light brown shade. The first she came back from a sailing trip, Hawkeye thought he picked up the wrong kid. For years, Ellie complained about Ben getting the good looks and it was true to a point. He was a bear of a guy, solidly built, square jawed and good humored. The total opposite of Hawkeye and so much like many of the Houlihans. Ellie was different. She didn't really resemble either of them when you looked directly at her, but in certain lights she looked indeed like her father's daughter. It was the eyes, Margaret decided. They were so sad. Ellie's eyes always reminded her of the way Hawkeye's looked right before he had to go to the looney bin. A little lost, a little sad and a little menacing.

"It's no big deal to dye your hair. Charles does," Ellie pointed out. This didn't make Margaret feel any better. Behind them, the screen door slammed and Ellen came out.

"The family wants you to keep the doll. They don't want a reminder, I guess."

"Uh...," was all Ellie could manage.

"What the hell are we going to do with it? It's ghastly," Charles added.

Ellie suddenly brightened up. "I know...I'll donate it to the museum. They're always complaining about having nothing to display but land deeds and barb wire," she said, snapping her fingers. "And if the family ever wants to come see it, she'll be safe under lock and key."

The airline people shrugged. Barbara, who was on the tiny town museum's board, smiled. Chalk up another win for Wheeless, which usually just took what it could get. They watched the Braniff reps pile back ito their rented station wagon and take off. The night sky was clear and all the stars were out, winking down at all of them. Charles and Barbara chatted amiably on the steps. In the house, Tex and Ellie laughed together while doing the dishes.

"Hear that? My favorite sound in the world," Hawkeye sighed. Margaret was perched beside him on the glider, kicking grooves in the soft earth.

"Everyone getting along. I know. I love it, too."

The sound of Ellie blabbing on the phone filtered through an open window.

"Think they're ready for that baby?" Hawkeye wondered.

"We weren't really. And I guess everything turned out fine. I mean, they're not bad kids," reasoned Margaret.

"No, they're not. We're lucky she's here."

They watched the lights of another plane go overhead. It completed its arc over the hose and disappeared into the northern sky.

XXXX

The day finally came when it was time to leave. It was hot and blustery, but the sky looked stormy. The suitcases were in the trunk and everyone was on the front porch, waiting for the wind to die down. Margaret had already made her plans to come back when Ellie had the baby. It would be a boy. She was sure of it.

"Daddy, it was so good to see you. Sorry all that happened. But that's how things are around here. You just take the good with the bed," Ellie said, hugging Hawkeye fiercely. Tex felt another pang of guilt for separating the two of them.

Hawkeye kissed her forehead and smiled. "Honey, take care of yourself. Don't step on any scorpions. Don't eat yellow snow. Don't get run over by a tumbleweed," he said, his eyes watery. Ellie hugged him again.

"You take good care of her," Margaret cautioned as she hugged Tex. He interpreted it as a threat.

"I will, Mom, I promise. Doctor Pierce, it was great to have you here," Tex smiled.

"Buddy, you're doing a great job. I would have been proud to have you in the Swamp," Hawkeye said, shaking his hand. This was a high compliment.

Charles hung back to watch the goodbyes. They all turned to look at him. He rolled his eyes and embraced Ellie.

"Young lady, I'm honored to have you bearing my grandchild."

Ellie grimaced over his shoulder. What a strange comment. Hawkeye just shrugged at her. "Charles, thanks for stitch-up job. It sure was good to see you. My God, I never thought you'd come to Oklahoma," she said.

"Me neither," he agreed. Ellie moved to Margaret, who was dangerously close to crying.

"What's it, Mom, we'll see each other in a few months."

"The house is just so lonely without you and your brother," she sniffed. Ellie looked around and saw that Hawkeye was across the yard, fussing over the luggage placement in the car.

"Are you and Dad getting along?" she asked, afraid of the answer. Margaret nodded.

"You know I love your father. We've worked out everything there is to be worked out between us. He can be so distant with me," Margaret said sadly. Ellie bowed her head.

"What about the book?"

Margaret sighed, "He's sitting on it. Too afraid to go ahead with it, I suppose." Ellie shook her head and hugged her mother. Margaret buried her head in Ellie's hair and said a silent prayer for all of them.

Meanwhile, on the side of the house, Tex and Charles were trying to search for words.

"Son..."

"Yeah..."

"Son, I know...this is very, very hard for me. My father never told me he loved me...or anything. When I saw you take charge at that accident scene I was so proud. You have something I lack. Compassion. And you're a exemplary doctor. All the people here are lucky to have you. I am lucky to have you for a son," Charles aid, weighing his words carefully.

Tex looked happy and confused. He couldn't believe Charles Winchester the 3rd was spilling his heart out. Could this have been the man his mother fell in love with for such a brief moment?

"Dad, I learned from the best," Tex smiled, gratified to get a smile back. They embraced.

"Take care of that girl. Both you and I know you're lucky to have her," Charles said. Tex looked at Hawkeye, Margaret and Ellie across the yard. Ellie looked like the complete combination of the two of them.

From the porch, Ellie and Tex watched the car pull away and waited for the dust to settle as it disappeared down the road. "You made up with your Dad, didn't you?" Ellie asked. She looked lost.

"Sort of."

"That's good. My mom's not doing well again. She didn't tell me until the very last minute."

Tex put an arm around Ellie and kissed her cheek. He didn't know what else to say, so they just stood there until they could hear the distant rumble of thunder on the prairie.

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_**Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with this and all your nice reviews. **_


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